I didn't have the chance to attend the Quests and Lore panel at BlizzCon since I was trapped in the Blizzard Store Line of Pain. This morning, however, she who shall not be named was reviewing her Yahoo news feed and asked me if I "saw the nerd pwn the Blizzard people at BlizzCon". When I said I hadn't, she played the following video:

I'm not super-deep into the lore of the game, but I am a fan of consistency. Way to keep Blizzard in check, Red Shirt Guy, and way to disprove the stereotype that all people in red shirts are cannon fodder for away missions.

As many of you already know are not receiving a standard mount in Cataclysm\u2014Instead they are gaining a new ability called . This spell has a 1.5 second cast time like any other mount in the game, but instead of getting onto a mount the player drops down onto all fours and is able to run at ground mount speed. This ability does scale with your riding skill allowing it to go 60% speed at level 20 and 100% at level 40.\r\rWe also have a short video clip of the new ability in action! Check it out below!\r

This morning Nethaera announced on the official forums some changes to tanking we will be seeing in Cataclysm. Currently only Paladins and Warriors are scheduled to have changes. and druids and death knights may need changes as testing progresses further. According to Nethaera block chance is getting too high too quickly and causing abilities like Shield Block to behave strangely.\r\rYou can read more about the specific changes after the break!

Blizzard has released a short FAQ regarding the digital pre-sale of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm that was announced at BlizzCon. According to the FAQ, you will only be able to obtain the standard edition of Cataclysm via the digital pre-sale as the Collector's Edition is not available through this program. In addition, the pre-sale will only be available in Americas, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia.\r\rYou can check out the full FAQ after the break!

First, OMG we made it to episode TWO :O We must be serious about this thing...\r\rSecond, we put a TON of work into this week's episode bringing together alot of footage from Blizzcon 2010 so we could collectively point and laugh at it.. and Lore's awesome 2400baud connection. \r\rLastly, Gary is springing for a World of Warcraft Sound Blaster headset and will be giving them away to one lucky viewer. Want a pair? Watch to find out how to win...\r\r

Therazane We've got some new 3D models from the latest Cataclysm Beta build - nothing incredibly exciting, though we do finally have a model for Therazane the Stonemother, Elemental Lord of the Earth! Hubba hubba!\r\rWe've also got a ton of new weapon models, including some PVP, quest and dungeon items - including my favorite, an awesome new two-handed sword which looks like a graphically updated version of Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood. This bad boy drops in Blackwing Descent, and shall be mine!\r\rAs far as icons go, mostly a bunch of new item icons - death knight and shaman tier icons, new Inscription tarot cards, a ton of new armor kits and a few other profession-related icons! Be the first on the forums to sport a new demonic Burger King helm!\r\rCheck out all of the new models and icons after the break!\r

In the new beta build that is being released today Blizzard has finally implemented the female Worgen dance! The new dance is based on Poker Face by Lady Gaga.\r\rWe have some animated images of several sections of the dance below, hopefully we will be able to get a video of the new dance up as soon as the servers are back online!\r\rWe have a video posted on our YouTube channel at ZAMOfficial!\r\r\r\rThere are also animated .gif versions after the break!

A new patch (13221) is imminent for the beta servers, and we've got details on what you can expect in this latest patch for the Cataclysm beta!\r\rWe'll be updating this post with more information as we distill it from the batch of data, so stay tuned!\r\rHighlights\r\r157 new items found, most of which are epic top-level items from raids.\r All spells that reduce the effectiveness of healing to a target (such as Mortal Strike) have been modified to reduce such effectiveness by 10% rather than 25%.\r All resistance-based racial abilities now increasing your spell resistance of that school by one point (scaling) rather than reducing the chance you will be hit by a spell from that school by 2%.\rDual Talent Specialization: Dual Talent Specialization requires level 30 (down from 40). <table><tr><td><b class="q">Dual Talent Specialization<\/b><\/td><\/tr><\/table><table><tr><td><br \/>Visit your class trainer when you are at least level 40 and activate your Dual Talent Speciali

The official World of Warcraft Forums as we know it is coming to an end, starting in early November Blizzard will begin testing the new community site. Included in the new site, much like the StarCraft II version, there will be new forums, blogs and even game guides. Following the initial testing period the old forums will be made Read Only and eventually completely removed.\r\rYou can check out the original announcement by Lylirra after the break!

I'm reading a blue post from Zarhym right now, and he's giving us a chilling warning of things to come...\r\rApparently in the period preceding Cataclysm, Deathwing is going to be flying from zone to zone, murdering people. The implication behind the post is that once a day, Deathwing will fly down from the sky in a particular zone, and incinerate every living creature in the area.\r\rEveryone who is killed this way will earn a Feat of Strength for having been killed by Deathwing! Could it be ? We'll see!\r\rEdit: Bibi from MMO-Champion has posted a video of the event!\r\r\r\rOne of Azeroth\u2019s oldest adversaries will soon tear through the Elemental Plane to reforge the world in flame, but this foe won\u2019t be conducting his reign of terror from the confines of a castle or lair. Deathwing is a destructive force the likes of which adventurers have yet to see in World of Warcraft, and his appetite for devastation can only be satisfied